Sunday 7 February 2016

Victorian Womens Hairstyles and Inventions.




1800 Women's Victorian Hair.
- Victorian hair in the 1800's were heavily inspired by 'neo-classic styles' created in Ancient Greece. 
- This style was a mixture of fluffy curls on the forehead and above the ears and the rest of the hair was formed into a knot or chignon bun at the back of the neck 
-Women's hairstyles were downed and decorated with head bands, ribbons and diadems
- Towards the beginning of the 1820's women began to wear their hair parted in a middle centre and then sleek it down in the direction of the back of the neck
- Hats and Bonnets became very popular and hairstyles changed in order to fit perfectly underneath their new head wear
-These hairstyles were called 'Jane Austen Hairstyles' because her stories became very popular around the time period these hairstyles became popular

The information from the above bullet points originate from the website below, which discusses the history and change of men and women's hairstyles throughout the 19th century.


In the 1840's until the 1860 many Victorian Women wore their hair in Chignon buns at the top of their heads. Women also wore free flowing locks framing either side of their face, as normal the hair would be adorned with "jewelled ribbons, flowers, leaves, pearls and combs" to decorate the hair. 
After 1860 curl and wave textures were popular and commonly used and metallic hair curlers were used at night time by Victorian women to preserve the shape of their curls, similar to Victorian men using wooden frames to preserve their bold moustaches. "In 1872 the French hair dresses Marcel Grateau patented his "curling iron", which was made of heavy tongs with rounded internal surfaces, in which one of the arms had a circular convex section and the other a concave one, so that one fitted into the other when the tongs were closed; they were then heated, allowing the hair to be waved. This invention was a great success and allowed to develop new hairstyles, as the one with his name, "The Marcel Wave".


The information from the above paragraph originates from the website below, which discusses the history and change of men and women's hairstyles throughout the 19th century.


1880 brought the popular 'Pompadour hairstyle', this was very fashionable at the time and ' consisted in rising the hair upwards in the centre part and leaving fallen curls at the sides. One of the variations was the 'French Pompadour", with the hair held at the top of the head and curls over the forehead. 
Pompadour hairstyle

The information from the above paragraph originates from the website below, which discusses the history and change of men and women's hairstyles throughout the 19th century.



The 'Gibson Girl' hairstyle consisted of adding hairpieces to the front of the head, this hair pieces were usually made from their own hair, using all saved hair from their hairbrushes. This hairstyle was created by a 'Graphic artist and Illustrator'. "His illustrations of the American quotidian life displayed a new kind of woman: beautiful, independent and very well arranged. This hairstyle was a real success near 1890, and was used until after the First World War. "

The information from the above paragraph originates from the website below, which discusses the history and change of men and women's hairstyles throughout the 19th century.


Alexander Godefroy invented a hair drying machine in 1890. He invented the dryer in his Paris Salon, the dryer consisted of
'a metal bonnet, that attached to a chimney pipe of a gas stove, blew hot hair on the head. This system allowed women to dry their hair faster and to preserve designs of new kinds of hairstyles. The big size of those machines still made impossible its domestic use. In the 20th century the system was improved, adding an electrical resistance which allowed transforming the cold air at the input in hot air at the output. Later thermostats were also added to regulate the temperature and to avoid the risk of burns. Another improvement was the handheld blow dryer, made of plastic material and safer."
(http://thehistoryofthehairsworld.com/hair_19th_century.html)


Alongside collecting information from the amazing website; http://thehistoryofthehairsworld.com/hair_19th_century.html, I have also found the site "http://bartoscollection.com/vehairstylesbyera.html" very interesting and informative also. This website in particular has imagery, inspiration and sources collected from all different places includig Vogue magazine from the 19th century. I may write a blog in the future citing this website and the historical facts they have although the site holds so much information I may speak briefly about it. 


References 

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